


Confusion

by KawafujiTakao



Category: Occultic;Nine
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 23:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12543236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawafujiTakao/pseuds/KawafujiTakao
Summary: Sarai has to sort out his feelings





	1. Site 1: Miyuu Aikawa

**Author's Note:**

> Ok I wrote/am writing this for my own greedy hands bc I know there is no o;n content let alone this pairing so someone's gotta do it even tho no one will read but myself lmao

Site 1: Miyuu Aikawa

It was a boring day. And that's being nice about it. 

Over the past few months of associating myself under Gamo, I learned he's not so bad, and that I actually kinda have fun at Cafe Blue Moon. I've found a few menu items that Manager Izumin can actually make well, you just have to know what to order. And I've also met Ryotasu and Sarai. 

But today has been super-slow. Gamo has been busy with an article he claims will be the one that brings Kirikiri Basara to the top of affiliate sites. I doubt that'll happen, because he says that about every stupid little article of his and nothing ever happens.

Ryotasu won't bother even talking to me. Instead she's jumping around saying weird stuff, only now more than usual. Which I don't like, because then I have no one to talk to and that makes me feel lonely.

Trying not to be rude, I glance at my phone under the table to kill time. I know Sarai, who sits opposite of me at the table, clearly knows I'm on my cell. My attempt at hiding it is kinda useless. I give up and put it in my pocket.

I watch him for a moment. He's clearly avoiding eye-contact with anyone like he usually does. I see him lightly tap the tabletop with his index finger as he eyes his cup off iced-coffee. A cube of ice cracks in the dish as part of it sinks lower into the glass.

I hate trying to do anything with him alone because he's so boring and rude. He doesn't talk to anyone about anything fun. Plus he's constantly making fun of me for my fortune telling. I gave up trying to make small-talk with him a while ago.

But today is different, I guess. Because he started talking to me.

"Aikawa." He says, the hand that was once tapping a rhythmic tune now clenched into a tight fist.

Blunt. Kind of harsh, in a way. But I'm used to it coming from him.

"What is it?"

I see him swallow a lump in his throat. Watching his anxious ways is in a way funny, because he'll always say how Gamo is feeling or what I'm thinking just by looking at us. It makes me wonder if I could analyze him like that, too.

But I don't watch him intently for too long, because if I do when he's embarrassed or in a vulnerable state, he starts to become really cute.

It's not often, but when it happens, it is real. Most of the time he's so cold you can't tell how beautiful he is.

But when he's scared? Then it really shows.

It's hard to explain...but he's almost gorgeous? Like, his dark hair gives him beautiful eyelashes. Or his slim figure. Or how the white of his glasses contrast the deepness of his eyes.

But those things don't usually come to mind. Instead I wish he would stop insulting what I do. When he does that, all his beauty vanishes.

"I was wondering...would you maybe like to get something to eat sometime?"

I'm shocked. I'm not sure I heard him right, because he did say it fairly quiet after all. But his refusal to look at me confirms it.

"Manager Izumin has food." I offer, playing innocent and dumb to throw him off while I still try to recover from him blatantly asking me out like that. 

He frowns and his cheeks flush a little. "No I didn't- I meant just you and I..."

"Are you asking me out on a-"

"No!" He finally makes eye-contact with me as he slams his palms on the table. "I just want to talk to you in private regarding your 'abilities.' Something about them bothers me."

This makes me a little disappointed, not gonna lie. I've never been on a date before, and I would love to brag to Chi that I went out with an older guy. But whatever, he's kind of a jerk, so no loss there.

In the end, I agree with his request, and set a time for the next day.


	2. Site 2: Sarai Hashigami

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so thirsty

My own reflection stares back at me in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom.

I look awful, despite my attempt to make myself somewhat presentable. Bags have formed beneath my eyes due to my tossing and turning last night when I was up thinking about how I was going to talk to Aikawa about her nonsensical fortune-telling. My glasses can only cover up so much of the black and blue sleeplessness.

I don't want to hurt her feelings, but she can't keep going on with trying to look into people's futures while believing in it so much. It's not fair to her or the people who believe in her.

I have approximately 30 minutes before I need to arrive at the restaurant I planned for us to eat at. In 30 minutes, I should be there 15 minutes early, giving me time to calm my nerves and consider the things I need to speak with her about.

7 minutes to the train station on foot, leaving 15 minutes for the train to reach it's stop, and giving me 8 minutes to walk to the designated address from there.

I glance at the blinking clock on my desk and realize I wasted 1 and a half minutes thinking about how I was going to get there that I actually forgot to leave.

Confused at my own unsettlement, I head for the door. As I reach for my jacket on it's hook I nearly trip, but stop myself before falling. 

"I'm leaving." I shout for mom to hear as I try to steady myself. 

-

The train is bustling with people, as it would any Sunday evening. I ignore them the best I can, as they would only get in my way, and instead find myself lost in my own thoughts.

For starters, I'm unnerved. I know that much. My pride is a tough pill to swallow, but if I didn't then I wouldn't be smart enough to acknowledge and accept the truth. I don't like it, no, but I can still take it.

The fact of the matter is that Miyuu Aikawa does something to me. It pisses me off. I know there's more to this little meeting than me actually wondering about her foolishness.

I can tell from the anxious tap of my foot, or the nervous biting of my lip. I can feel every beat of my heart so clearly that it's disturbing.

Aikawa makes my body react, and I don't like it.

I'm used to short lasting spurts of heightened senses, yes. Yet this is different. For example I remember a tall woman with a blue umbrella approached me at the university once and I was immediately enchanted by her beauty and curves.

However since then I've never thought about her, because that was most likely my human nature reacting telling me she was a worthy mate. Since she hasn't been around, there's no need for me to search for her, because that would be inconvenient.

And that's the confusing part. Aikawa doesn't have anything about her that would catch a male sexually. She isn't ugly, but she also isn't beautiful. She's simply cute, which isn't something reproductive organs look for when they are trying to keep their race alive. And she doesn't have a well-developed figure, either. 

So why do I constantly feel so upset around her, or when I am doing something as simple as thinking about her?

Then I realize that I've been thinking about her for so long and so intently that I missed my stop.

"Shit."


	3. Site 3: Miyuu Aikawa

"Your 15 minutes late!" I tell Sarai as he comes through the door, sweat forming on the side of his face.

He coughs into his hand. "I uh, got lost."

That seems uncharacteristic of him, but I don't bother prying.

We are seated, and I can't help but notice everything on these menus are fairly pricey. I mean, they aren't TERRIBLY expensive, but they aren't dirt cheap, either. 

I wonder why he chose someplace like this...

"Don't worry about the expenses. I can afford them."

...Aaand it's like he's reading my mind. It's kinda creepy...

Despite what he says, I only order a water and a salad. The salad is only an appetizer but I can live without the full size.

"Don't tell me you're worried about your weight? You're much too thin to be obsessing over things like that...."

Ugh why do guys always get upset when girls-

"I was joking." He says as he adjusts his glasses. "I can tell by you rolling your eyes that you were bothered by my saying that. I apologize, I didn't mean it like that. In reality you're probably more concerned about the costs? Even though I told you I'd be fine paying for all of it."

He gives me no room to argue for myself, because what he's saying isn't wrong.

"So I'm right."

"You say you don't believe in fortune telling, but the way you analyze people can't be too unlike it in my opinion."

He folds his hands in front if him. "That's because they aren't unlike one another. Fortune telling involves the teller gaining information from their client, as I have told you in the past. As for me, I'm just reading your body language. Which, in a sense, can be called 'gaining information on you.'"

"So you admit they are alike?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you so opposed to what I'm doing?!"

"Simple. You see fortune telling from an occult perspective. I see it from a scientific point of view. As I have stated previously, 'hot reading' and 'cold reading' are methods in which people like you collect information from their subject. That brings me to what I brought you here for today."

"What then?"

"I want you to tell me how you gained my information. How you knew my father would be killed. It's obvious I would have regrets about his passing. But what I want to know is how you knew he would leave me."

Sarai says those last two words with a crack in his voice. I swear he might almost cry. I feel intimidated by him most of the time, but I need to remember it's not me he's after. He's after his own unspoken words and his father he'll never get back.

"Sarai. I don't know. What I do just happens. I can try and make sense of it if you wish, but in the end I don't think it will solve much."

I reach out and grab his left wrist with my right hand. Looking him deep in the eyes, I try to assure him. 

"I'm sorry about your father, about everything."

Maybe I've been around Sarai too much lately, but I consider the idea that maybe me trying to reassure him is a way of me subconsciously trying to lure him in. So he believes me and my tellings.

But that frustrates me. Because I do genuinely feel bad for him and what I couldn't persuade him to tell his father before he died. I imagine that bad thought as chalk on a board and an eraser deleting it.

I recede backwards, waiting for him to tell me that I'm only getting close to him to try to make him vulnerable. Nothing of the sort is said though, whether he thought it or not.

"Well, then could you try and tell me how you knew about me?"

"Well uhm...maybe I read or heard on the news about your father or something and the name stuck in my head? And with all the occult-y stuff and crimes...maybe I guessed it would happen? Since people didn't seem to get along with him real well...makes sense with all the cold and hot reading stuff."

I might have hit a sore spot, wording things like that...But he doesn't seem phased.

"I thought so, too." He starts. "But I don't see how my first name connected to my last would have been released publicly at that time. Or how you knew me by my cell phone number when you answered it. Even if the commenters on KiriBasa told you before hand, how would THEY have gotten my number?"

He seems thoroughly confused...

"Well I mean they didn't tell me. At least, not until during the stream...but uh...even if they did, you got my cell number rather easily so I don't think it would have been that hard."

"No." I watch as he waves a hand in front of his face, dismissing the idea completely. "I had connections. And the writers at KiriBasa are all complete idiots. There's no way they would bother."

"Gamo is an idiot..."

"Not what I meant, but yes."  
A very faint smirk appears on his face. I think this is the first I've ever seen amusement in his expression. 

"So uh..."

"It seems I am back to square one. That would be your fault."

He glares at me behind his glasses, and I swear if his expression didn't soften shortly after to signify he was again joking, my heart would have been frozen stone solid in fear.

Interrupting the beginning of an empty silence, the waiter returns to hand us our food.


	4. Site 5: Miyuu Aikawa

As I hold my newly purchased umbrella in my hand, Sarai stands to the left of me getting completely soaked. I wish I could see the look of contempt on his face, but the water droplets on his glasses block me from doing so.

"This was never part of the deal." He tells me, in referencing him walking me home without an umbrella himself.

"It never WASN'T part of the deal, either." I tell him, feeling pretty bad for him honestly. Besides, I never said he couldn't share the one he bought me, but for some reason he refuses. "And don't pay me the rest, I don't want it."

"No! That'd just be pitiful on my behalf. I at least need to stick to my word."

"That's not the only thing you'll stick to." Without thinking, I find myself moving the wet hair that clung to his forehead out of his eyes. "You'll stick to your hair and clothes, too."

He doesn't say anything, so I think I flustered him.

Wiping the moisture from my fingertips onto my leggings, I try and bring up the stale mood.

"Hey, thanks for getting me this one, I know it was a little more expensive but it was just so cute."

"I think it is rather trivial. An umbrella's purpose is to keep you dry. It shouldn't matter whether or not it has a pattern of corgis on it or not."

I walk in silence thinking of a comeback. Small sounds of rain hitting the pavement ring throughout my ears.

"Then what's the purpose of those lil' plug things in your ears?"

"T-they're not plugs! Just- piercings..." In the corner of my eye I see his hand reach up to rub his ear instinctively. "They...express my personality? I guess..."

"And corgis on my umbrella don't express mine?"

He looks at his feet with his hands in his pockets. I can tell he has 100% had it with me. I feel empowered.

I decide to tease his further, since he's already went for the bait.

"If they're piercings, that means you take time out of your day every. Single. Morning. To make sure you have them in. Can someone like you really care so much about their appearance?"

"It has nothing to do with me. I personally don't care, but this society I live in does."

"That contradicts what you said about expressing your personality."

A fist forms in his pocket as he looks away from me. I can't tell if he's upset with me or with himself. Either way, maybe I went too far.

"Look, I was kidding. I just-"

He stops me. "No, your right. I am nothing but a contradiction. I tell myself feelings and thoughts of sentiment are nonexistent. That the explanation for then is to climb higher in the social ladder. Yet I still have unfinished business with my father that wouldn't have brought me anywhere, still realize now I think I have a group of friends. Still realize I can no longer set aside these feelings that I am having for-"

He stops and turns my way again. I swear I can see a few tears in his eyes, but it's probably just the rain.

"Feelings for what?"

"It's nothing important." He says after he clears his throat. "I'm just not fond of their presence. The feelings, I mean."

It's kinda weird, talking about 'feelings' as if they were a person, but I can sense that Sarai is genuinely upset so I shouldn't torment him any more.

"Well uh...we're actually almost at my house now so..." I try and change the subject.

But no one says anything for the remainder of the walk. 

As I walk to the front of my door, Sarai stands at the gate to make sure I get in safely. It's such a friendly act I almost don't believe it came from him.

"Come here a sec." I say, loud enough for him to hear in the rain. He does so and walks over.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot..." He says as he reaches for his wallet.

"That's not what I meant!" I smack his hand away from his cash-holding pocket. "Here. Wait a minute."

I head indoors and grab an umbrella without such a girly design on it and go back out.

In front of my door he stands with the money he supposedly owes me from losing the bet, sopping wet from the rain, in his hand.

"You, put that back were it came from." I push his wrist back, and place the umbrella in the opposite palm instead. "Just borrow this, okay?"

"I'm already drenched. What would be the point?" He looks really dumb standing in the rain like that, not gonna lie. It's kinda funny, and I again feel a little bad for him.

"Darn, you're right..." I remember my mom works Sunday nights. "Then at least come in and dry off."


	5. Site 5: Miyuu Aikawa

As I hold my newly purchased umbrella in my hand, Sarai stands to the left of me getting completely soaked. I wish I could see the look of contempt on his face, but the water droplets on his glasses block me from doing so.

"This was never part of the deal." He tells me, in referencing him walking me home without an umbrella himself.

"It never WASN'T part of the deal, either." I tell him, feeling pretty bad for him honestly. Besides, I never said he couldn't share the one he bought me, but for some reason he refuses. "And don't pay me the rest, I don't want it."

"No! That'd just be pitiful on my behalf. I at least need to stick to my word."

"That's not the only thing you'll stick to." Without thinking, I find myself moving the wet hair that clung to his forehead out of his eyes. "You'll stick to your hair and clothes, too."

He doesn't say anything, so I think I flustered him.

Wiping the moisture from my fingertips onto my leggings, I try and bring up the stale mood.

"Hey, thanks for getting me this one, I know it was a little more expensive but it was just so cute."

"I think it is rather trivial. An umbrella's purpose is to keep you dry. It shouldn't matter whether or not it has a pattern of corgis on it or not."

I walk in silence thinking of a comeback. Small sounds of rain hitting the pavement ring throughout my ears.

"Then what's the purpose of those lil' plug things in your ears?"

"T-they're not plugs! Just- piercings..." In the corner of my eye I see his hand reach up to rub his ear instinctively. "They...express my personality? I guess..."

"And corgis on my umbrella don't express mine?"

He looks at his feet with his hands in his pockets. I can tell he has 100% had it with me. I feel empowered.

I decide to tease his further, since he's already went for the bait.

"If they're piercings, that means you take time out of your day every. Single. Morning. To make sure you have them in. Can someone like you really care so much about their appearance?"

"It has nothing to do with me. I personally don't care, but this society I live in does."

"That contradicts what you said about expressing your personality."

A fist forms in his pocket as he looks away from me. I can't tell if he's upset with me or with himself. Either way, maybe I went too far.

"Look, I was kidding. I just-"

He stops me. "No, your right. I am nothing but a contradiction. I tell myself feelings and thoughts of sentiment are nonexistent. That the explanation for then is to climb higher in the social ladder. Yet I still have unfinished business with my father that wouldn't have brought me anywhere, still realize now I think I have a group of friends. Still realize I can no longer set aside these feelings that I am having for-"

He stops and turns my way again. I swear I can see a few tears in his eyes, but it's probably just the rain.

"Feelings for what?"

"It's nothing important." He says after he clears his throat. "I'm just not fond of their presence. The feelings, I mean."

It's kinda weird, talking about 'feelings' as if they were a person, but I can sense that Sarai is genuinely upset so I shouldn't torment him any more.

"Well uh...we're actually almost at my house now so..." I try and change the subject.

But no one says anything for the remainder of the walk. 

As I walk to the front of my door, Sarai stands at the gate to make sure I get in safely. It's such a friendly act I almost don't believe it came from him.

"Come here a sec." I say, loud enough for him to hear in the rain. He does so and walks over.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot..." He says as he reaches for his wallet.

"That's not what I meant!" I smack his hand away from his cash-holding pocket. "Here. Wait a minute."

I head indoors and grab an umbrella without such a girly design on it and go back out.

In front of my door he stands with the money he supposedly owes me from losing the bet, sopping wet from the rain, in his hand.

"You, put that back were it came from." I push his wrist back, and place the umbrella in the opposite palm instead. "Just borrow this, okay?"

"I'm already drenched. What would be the point?" He looks really dumb standing in the rain like that, not gonna lie. It's kinda funny, and I again feel a little bad for him.

"Darn, you're right..." I remember my mom works Sunday nights. "Then at least come in and dry off."


End file.
